Santa Was Here

I have several tin fold up nativities that are made in Mexico. They are so sweet. You just open them and each animal folds out and when you are finished you just fold them back up. These are one of my favorites. They are the first decoration I put out every year.

Christmas would not be Christmas without our old vintage Santa! He was a freebie the first year cowboy and I got married.

Every year we decorate our dining table differently. This year I used all my old snow globes and the kids all loved and enjoyed them. I noticed last night that it is the simple things that make them the happiest.

Another tradition we have at our house is having petit fours for dessert after our Christmas dinner. We started this tradition the year son #1 was born. We have never missed a year having them.

We had a lovely Christmas dinner with all of our family on Christmas Eve. It was an extra special Christmas this year. The excitement of the 7, 5, 3 & 2 kiddos simply made the evening amazing. Our 7 year old is changing and becoming so grown up. We can see the changes in him and last night he was so fun to watch. He is a sweet little boy. Our 5 year old kiddo was all about Christmas this year. It was so much fun to see his excitement. He said it was “the best day ever”! He had a big smile on his face all evening. Our 3 year old granddaughter is a hoot! She was really into the opening of presents…FAST! Our youngest kiddo is just such a contented child and probably would have been really happy with just one toy! He just wanted to play with our cat! They all played well and did not fight. I would say it was a perfect Christmas Eve. We love being with our boys and our daughter in laws. It is such a meaningful day and last night when everyone left to go home I can say cowboy and I had very contented hearts…

What was for dinner? This year I was so busy enjoying the moment I did not take one photo of food items. We had a wonderful Christmas dinner with everyone sitting around the table together. The kiddos were really great and very patient this year. The following was our menu:

Turkey & Cornbread Dressing & Gravy

Garlic Mashed Potatoes

Sweet Potato Casserole

Corn Souffle

Cranberry Jelly

Rolls

Artichoke Dip

Salad

Deviled Eggs

Cheese Log

Jello Salad

Pecan Pie

Petit Fours

Gingerbread Men

Snowmen Cookies

Buttermilk Pie

This morning cowboy and I woke up to enjoy a yummy pull apart bread baked. This is also another Christmas tradition. All the best things about Christmas are all the little traditions every family has. We love Christmas and love that we raised our kids to establish their own special Christmas traditions which they have done.

I hope that you have had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. I know I am blessed with my sweet family and this has been a memorable Christmas season for sure.

Comments

Loved every word you wrote today. Loved the photos of your decorations, especially the tin nativities. I once tried collecting nativities, but I kept giving them away; and so today, I have only the one large one that I made many years ago. Thank you for all the good things you write about family and love and the good things about life.

Thank you for the very sweet words. They came at such a needed time for me. We have several friends who are very ill this Christmas and it has been a challenge to keep up the spirit. But, we did and I am happy we did have a nice holiday anyway.

I love your traditions and the menu sounded wonderful. I hope someday we can have our own traditions. Zach really isn’t in to Christmas that much- his holiday is branding every year! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I think Christmas was great everywhere. We gathered with my husband’s family for the annual Christmas Eve bonfire and fireworks extravaganza. There was a fresh norther to keep us all hopping around!!!!!!